Shared user interface services framework

ABSTRACT

This disclosure provides various embodiments for providing UI services. An application-independent, reusable UI framework receives a request from a first application, to perform a first operation on a first set of data relating to presentation of the first set of data on a UI. A subset of the first set of data is received from a data provider independent of the UI framework. At least one first service is identified in response, the first service hosted by the UI framework and adapted to perform the first operation on the first set of data. The first operation is performed on the subset of the first set of data using the at least one identified first service to produce a first processed set of data adapted for presentation on a UI of the first application. The first processed set of data is sent to the first application.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This present disclosure relates to user interface operations, and, moreparticularly, to systems, software, and computer-implemented methods forproviding user interface functionality through a shared user interfaceframework.

BACKGROUND

User interface elements can be displayed by a graphical user interfaceof a computing device and interacted with by users of the device. It iscommon, in modern software applications for the application to have,associated with it, at least one such user interface element or “UI.”Users can interact with a program's UI affecting a change in the UIdisplayed to the user. One example of a UI are table UIs adapted toallow users to interact with table data through common table UIoperations such as sorting, filtering, grouping, expanding, andperforming analytical calculations on data displayed in the table UI.

Modern software application developers have a myriad of UI technologiesto choose from when designing and building an application and itscorresponding UI, and the available selection of UI technologiescontinues to expand. UI technologies include Adobe Flash,JavaScript+html, XUL, SwixML, Thinlet, Buoy, Swing, IBM's AWT, andothers. As new UI technologies are developed, they sometimes replaceolder UI technologies, prompting application developers to redesignsoftware systems to incorporate the latest UI technology.

Advances in software development, distributed software environments andService Oriented Architectures (SOA) have led to many advancements inservice-based software architectures. SOA is an architectural style forbuilding software applications that use services exposed to applicationsover a network. The internet has allowed implementations of web-basedSOA environments, or web services that deliver services over the webusing technologies such as XML, WSDL, SOAP, and UDDI. SOA generallypromotes reusability of software resource and loose coupling betweensoftware components. Applications in SOA are built based on services. Aservice is an implementation of a well-defined business functionality,and such services can then be consumed by clients in differentapplications or business processes. One example is SAP's BusinessIntelligence Consumer Services™ product which can expose services foruse in connection with other applications such as SAP's BusinessExplorer™.

SUMMARY

This disclosure provides various embodiments for providing UI serviceson behalf of a software application. An application-independent,reusable UI framework receives a request from a first application, toperform at least one first operation on a first set of data relating topresentation of the first set of data on a user interface associatedwith the first application. A subset of the first set of data,corresponding to the request, is received from a data providerindependent of the UI framework. At least one first service isidentified, in response to the request, the first service hosted by theUI framework and adapted to perform the at least one first operation onthe first set of data. The first operation is performed on the subset ofthe first set of data using the at least one identified first service toproduce a first processed set of data adapted for presentation on theuser interface of the first application. The first processed set of datais sent to the first application.

While generally described as computer implemented software thatprocesses and transforms the respective data, some or all of the aspectsmay be computer implemented methods or further included in respectivesystems or other devices for performing this described functionality.The details of these and other aspects and embodiments of the presentdisclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and thedescription below. Other features, objects, and advantages of thedisclosure will be apparent from the description and drawings, and fromthe claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for providing a shared UI frameworkto one or more UI service consumers.

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of an example shared UI framework.

FIG. 3A is an example screenshot of a user interface displaying exampletable data capable of being operated upon by a shared UI framework, suchas the UI framework described in connection with FIG. 2.

FIG. 3B is an example screenshot of a user interface displaying exampletable data that has been operated upon by a shared UI framework, such asthe UI framework described in connection with FIG. 2.

FIG. 3C is an example screenshot of a user interface displaying anotherexample of table data that has been operated upon by a shared UIframework, such as the UI framework described in connection with FIG. 2.

FIG. 4A is an example screenshot of a user interface displaying anotherexample of table data capable of being operated upon by a shared UIframework, such as the UI framework described in connection with FIG. 2.

FIG. 4B is an example screenshot of a user interface displaying anotherexample of table data that has been operated upon by a shared UIframework, such as the UI framework described in connection with FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example computer process forproviding UI services a shared UI framework, such as the UI frameworkdescribed in connection with FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example computer process forconsuming UI services provided by a shared UI framework, such as the UIframework described in connection with FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of an example shared UI frameworkused in connection with an example software application.

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustration of an example shared UI frameworkused in connection with an example print converter application.

Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure generally describes software, computer-implementedmethods, and systems relating to a reusable,software-architecture-independent user interface (UI) framework that canbe integrated into an application's architecture stack to provide sharedfunctionality for the configuration and execution ofuser-interface-related operations on the application. For instance, theUI framework can encapsulate and provide a shared, central set ofcommonly used table operations (e.g., filtering, sorting, grouping,expanding/hiding rows, columns, and cells, etc.) and services that canbe reused in the architecture stacks of distinct and variedapplications, including applications using different UI formattingprotocols, designs, and technologies. Rather than forcing a developer tobuilding these common functionalities into an application's UI each timea new application or new version is developed, a shared UI framework cansimplify development of an application UI by allowing the developer toaccess UI services exposed through the shared UI framework and integratethe services' functionality into the developer's own UI design.Moreover, because the shared UI framework is largely application- andUI-technology-independent, developers can easily migrate to new ordifferent UI technologies without having to redevelop the UI operationfunctionality provided through the UI framework.

Distributed software environments, including SOA systems, enterprisesoftware systems, and cloud-based software systems can also make use ofa shared UI framework. Indeed, in some instances, several distinctsoftware applications in a distributed computing environment may seek toaccess, edit, or otherwise use data from one or more data sources,including data sources external to the applications, such as acentralized database. A UI framework can interface directly with thesource of the data designated for display in an application's UI. The UIframework's ability to interface with a wide variety of data sources andservice consumers permits the UI framework to be widely reused across amyriad of applications and data types. A developer desiring toincorporate certain UI operations within the UI architecture of thedeveloper's project can simply subscribe to, piggy-back, interface with,or otherwise access the shared UI services provided by anapplication-independent UI framework to realize the desired UIfunctionality without having to engineer and program the functionalityfrom scratch. A UI framework can offer built-in support for a number ofUI concepts and operations commonly used by different UI interfacetechnologies, such as table UI operations.

Turning to the example implementation of FIG. 1, the illustratedsoftware environment 100 includes, or is communicably coupled with, oneor more clients 108, a UI framework server 104, one or more applicationservers 112, one or more application developers 120, one or moreexternal software applications 124, and one or more other external datasources 144, using one or more networks 128. Each of the servers 104,112 comprise electronic computing devices operable to receive, transmit,process, store, or manage data and information associated with thesoftware environment 100. As used in this document, the term “computer”is intended to encompass any suitable processing device. For example,the environment 100 may be implemented using computers other thanservers, including a server pool. Further, any, all, or some of theservers 104, 112 may be adapted to execute any operating system,including Linux, UNIX, Windows Server, or any other suitable operatingsystem. In the illustrated embodiment, the UI framework 104 is one ormore computing devices used to provide a reusable UI framework 132, viathe network 128, to one or more applications, including applicationshosted by an application server (e.g., 112), stored locally on a client(e.g., 109), and other applications 124. Clients 108, as well as otherusers external to environment 100, can, directly or indirectly (e.g.,via a proxy, virtual machine interface, etc.) access and performoperations on data provided by a data source 117, 144. It will beunderstood that the term “application server” (e.g., 112) can includeany suitable software component or module, or computing device(s)capable of hosting and/or serving a software application, includingdistributed, enterprise, or cloud-based software applications.

In the present example, the UI framework server 104 and the applicationserver 112 each include at least one interface (106 and 115,respectively), one or more processors (105 and 113, respectively), andcomputer-readable memory (107 and 114, respectively). In some instances,the UI framework server 104 and one or more application servers 112 canbe hosted on a common computing system, server, or server pool, andshare computing resources, including shared memory, processors, andinterfaces. The interfaces 106, 115 are used for communicating withother systems in a client-server or other distributed environment(including within environment 100) connected to the network 128, forexample the one or more clients 108, an application developer 120, orany other computing device adapted to interface with the servers 104,112, including devices not illustrated in FIG. 1. Generally, eachinterface 106, 115 comprises logic encoded in software and/or hardwarein a suitable combination and operable to communicate with the network128. More specifically, the interfaces 106, 115 may comprise softwaresupporting one or more communication protocols associated withcommunications such that the network 128 or hardware is operable tocommunicate physical signals within and outside of the illustratedsoftware environment 100.

Each of the example servers 104, 112 also includes a processor (105, 113respectively). Each processor 105, 113, and 117 executes instructionsand manipulates data to perform the operations of the associated server104, 112, and may comprise, for example, a central processing unit(CPU), a blade, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or afield-programmable gate array (FPGA), among other suitable options.Although each processor 105, 113 is illustrated as a single processor,multiple processors may be used according to the particular needs of theassociated server. References to a single processor 105, 113 are meantto include multiple processors where applicable. The operations thateach processor 105, 113 executes are determined by the purpose andoperations of its associated server. Generally, the processor 105, 113executes instructions and manipulates data to perform the operations ofits respective server and, specifically, the software systems andapplications (e.g., 116, 124) hosted by the server.

At a high level, each “server” (e.g., 104, 112) includes one or moreelectronic computing devices operable to receive, transmit, process,store, or manage data and information associated with the environment100. Specifically, a server is responsible for receiving requests fromone or more clients and sending the appropriate response the requestingclient. In addition to requests from external clients, requests may alsobe sent from internal users, external or third-party customers, otherautomated applications, as well as any other appropriate entities,individuals, systems, or computers. For example, although FIG. 1illustrates a single server for each of the UI framework server 104 andapplication server 102, a server can be implemented using two or moreservers, as well as computers other than servers, including a serverpool. Indeed, a server may be any computer or processing device such as,for example, a blade server, general-purpose personal computer (PC),Macintosh, workstation, UNIX-based workstation, or any other suitabledevice. In other words, the present disclosure contemplates computersother than general purpose computers, as well as computers withoutconventional operating systems. Further, illustrated server 102 may beadapted to execute any operating system, including Linux, UNIX, Windows,Mac OS, or any other suitable operating system.

In the case of an application server 112, the processor 113 can executethe functionality required to receive and respond to requests from theclients 108, as well as client applications 124 interfacing with theserver's hosted application 116. Regardless of the particularimplementation, “software” may include computer-readable instructions,firmware, wired or programmed hardware, or any combination thereof on atangible medium operable when executed to perform at least the processesand operations described herein. Indeed, each software component may befully or partially written or described in any appropriate computerlanguage including C, C++, Java, Visual Basic, assembler, Perl, anysuitable version of 4GL, as well as others. Applications can beimplemented as individual modules that implement the various featuresand functionality through various objects, methods, or other processes,or may instead include a number of sub-modules, third party services,components, libraries, and such, as appropriate. Conversely, thefeatures and functionality of various components can be combined intosingle components as appropriate.

At a high level, each of the one or more hosted applications (e.g., 109,116, 124) illustrated in the environment 100 can include anyapplication, program, module, process, or other software that mayexecute, change, delete, generate, or otherwise manage informationaccording to the present disclosure, particularly in response to and inconnection with one or more requests received from the illustratedclients 108, as well as other applications. In certain cases, only onehosted application may be located at a particular server. In others, aplurality of related and/or unrelated hosted applications may be storedat a single server, or located across a plurality of other servers, aswell. In certain cases, environment 100 may implement a composite hostedapplication. For example, portions of the composite application may beimplemented as Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs) or design-time componentsmay have the ability to generate run-time implementations into differentplatforms, such as J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition), ABAP(Advanced Business Application Programming) objects, or Microsoft's.NET, among others. Additionally, the applications 116, 124 mayrepresent web-based applications accessed and executed by remote clients108 or client applications 124 via the network 128 (e.g., through theInternet). Further, while illustrated as internal to server 112, one ormore processes associated with a particular hosted application 116 maybe stored, referenced, or executed remotely. For example, a portion of aparticular hosted application 116 may be a web service associated withthe application that is remotely called, while another portion of thehosted application 116 may be an interface object or agent bundled forprocessing at a remote client 108. Moreover, any or all of the hostedapplications 116 may be a child or sub-module of another software moduleor enterprise application (not illustrated) without departing from thescope of this disclosure. Still further, portions of the hostedapplication 116 may be executed by a user working directly at server112, as well as remotely at client 108.

Similarly, the UI framework server 104 can include one or moreprocessors 105 executing software comprising the UI framework 132. Theprocessor 105 executes instructions and manipulates data to perform UIframework operations and tasks (described below) as well as serve UIservices to a plurality of UI service consumers, including applications(e.g., 109, 116, 124), systems, and programs remote from the UIframework server 104. The UI framework server 104 can be adapted toserve the UI framework to consumers in a variety of contexts includinglocal, private, distributed, enterprise, and cloud-computing softwaresystem environments. The UI framework server 104 can be implementedusing a single processor 105 or multiple processors, including multipleprocessors operating in a parallel processing computing environment.

Each of the example servers 104, 112, and 116 also includes a memory(107 and 114, respectively). Each memory may include any memory ordatabase module and may take the form of volatile or non-volatile memoryincluding, without limitation, non-transitory memory elements, magneticmedia, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory(ROM), removable media, or any other suitable local or remote memorycomponent. Each memory may store various objects or data, includingclasses, frameworks, applications, backup data, business objects, jobs,web pages, web page templates, database tables, content repositoriesstoring business or other dynamic information, or other informationincluding any parameters, variables, algorithms, instructions, rules,constraints, or references thereto relevant to the purposes of theparticular server. Each memory may also include any other appropriatedata, such as VPN applications, firmware logs and policies, firewallpolicies, a security or access log, print or other reporting files, aswell as others. Again, the particular data and instructions stored ineach memory 107, 114 will be described in detail below in connectionwith the illustrated implementations of the software environment 100 andcomponents thereof.

Generally, the network 128 facilitates wireless or wirelinecommunications between the components of the software environment 100(i.e., between the UI framework server 104 and one or more applicationservers 112, an application developer 12, and clients 108, as well asbetween the other components as appropriate), as well as with any otherlocal or remote computer, such as those associated with the one or moreapplications 124 or external data sources 144. The network 128 can beimplemented as one or more distinct networks. In any implementation, thenetwork 128 may be a continuous or discontinuous network withoutdeparting from the scope of this disclosure, so long as at least aportion of the network 128 may facilitate communications between sendersand recipients. The network 128 may be all or a portion of an enterpriseor secured network. As an example, in FIG. 1 networks 128 b mayrepresent a portion of an enterprise network, while network 128 a mayrepresent a connection to the Internet. In some instances, a portion ofthe network 128 may be a virtual private network (VPN), such as, forexample, the connection between the application developer 120 and theapplication server 112. All or a portion of the network 128 can compriseeither a wireline or wireless link. Example wireless links may include802.11a/b/g/n, 802.20, WiMax, and/or any other appropriate wirelesslink. In other words, the network 128 encompasses any internal orexternal network, networks, sub-network, or combination thereof operableto facilitate communications between various computing components insideand outside the illustrated environment 100. The network 128 maycommunicate, for example, Internet Protocol (IP) packets, Frame Relayframes, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cells, voice, video, data, andother suitable information between network addresses. The network 128may also include one or more local area networks (LANs), radio accessnetworks (RANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks(WANs), all or a portion of the Internet, and/or any other communicationsystem or systems at one or more locations.

The illustrated implementation of FIG. 1 includes one or more localand/or remote clients 108. The client 108 is any computing deviceoperable to connect or communicate at least with the application server104 and/or the network 128 using a wireline or wireless connection. Eachclient 108 includes a GUI 110. In general, the client 108 comprises anelectronic computing device operable to receive, transmit, process, andstore any appropriate data associated with the software environment ofFIG. 1. It will be understood that there may be any number of clients108 associated with environment 100, as well as any number of clients108 external to environment 100. Further, the term “client” and “user”may be used interchangeably as appropriate without departing from thescope of this disclosure. Moreover, while each client 108 is describedin terms of being used by one user, this disclosure contemplates thatmany users may use one computer or that one user may use multiplecomputers. As used in this disclosure, the client 108 is intended toencompass a personal computer, touch screen terminal, workstation,network computer, kiosk, wireless data port, smart phone, personal dataassistant (PDA), one or more processors within these or other devices,or any other suitable processing device. For example, the client 108 maycomprise a computer that includes an input device, such as a keypad,touch screen, mouse, or other device that can accept information, and anoutput device that conveys information associated with operations of oneor more applications stored and/or executed on the application server112 (or other servers in environment 100) or on the client 108 itself,including digital data, visual information, or the GUI 110. Both theinput device and the output device may include fixed or removablestorage media such as a magnetic computer disk, CD-ROM, or othersuitable media to both receive input from and provide output to users ofthe clients 108 through the display, namely the GUI 110.

The GUI 110 comprises a graphical user interface operable to allow theuser to interface with at least a portion of environment 100 for anysuitable purpose, including allowing a user to interact with one or moresoftware applications (e.g., 109, 116, 124). Generally, the GUI 110provides users with an efficient and user-friendly presentation of dataprovided by or communicated within the system. The term “graphical userinterface,” or GUI, may be used in the singular or in the plural todescribe one or more graphical user interfaces and each of the displaysof a particular graphical user interface. Therefore, the GUI 110 can beany graphical user interface, such as a web browser, touch screen, orcommand line interface (CLI) that processes information in theenvironment 100 and efficiently presents the results to the user. Ingeneral, the GUI 110 may include a plurality of user interface (UI)elements such as interactive fields, pull-down lists, media players,tables, graphics, virtual machine interfaces, buttons, etc. operable bythe user at the client 108. These UI elements may be related to thefunctions of one or more applications (e.g., 116, 124), includingapplications 109 hosted at the client.

While FIG. 1 is described as containing or being associated with aplurality of elements, not all elements illustrated within environment100 of FIG. 1 may be utilized in each alternative implementation of thepresent disclosure. Additionally, one or more of the elements describedherein may be located external to environment 100, while in otherinstances, certain elements may be included within or as a portion ofone or more of the other described elements, as well as other elementsnot described in the illustrated implementation. Further, certainelements illustrated in FIG. 1 may be combined with other components, aswell as used for alternative or additional purposes in addition to thosepurposes described herein.

Turning now to FIG. 2, a schematic representation of an exampleimplementation of a UI framework 200 is illustrated. The UI framework200 includes a service controller 205 managing interactions of the UIframework 200 with service data consumers 210, service behaviorcontrollers 215, and data sources 220. The service controller 205 alsomanages the delivery and performance of UI operations provided by one ormore UI services 225 offered through the UI framework 200. The UIservices 225 can each provide a particular UI operation on data 255accessed from a data source 220 by the UI framework 200. Each UI service225 can have a corresponding service configuration model 230. A serviceconfiguration model 230 defines the exact function of a service andparameters for the corresponding service's operation on data intendedfor the service consumer's 210 UI. The UI framework 200 further includesa service configuration controller 235 that interfaces with serviceconfigurators 240, allowing individual service configurators 240 toprovide service configuration customization requests to customizeparticular service configurations 230 in accordance with, for example,the particular needs of a UI or the UI's underlying application. The UIframework 200 can also include a field service controller 245 adapted tohandle all aspects of data conversion needed in adapting data 255provided by the data source 220 for use by the services 225 and, uponprocessing by the services, use by the service data consumer 210.

The service controller 205 can be adapted to manage and guarantee theconsistent configuration and execution of the individual UI services 225provided by the UI framework 200. Additionally, in some instances, theservice controller can provide interfaces to, or be the interface to,one or more external components utilizing services provided by the UIinterface or external components contributing towards the operation ofthe UI framework 200. Services can be exposed to external components viaone or more APIs. Examples of external components can include servicedata consumers 210, data sources 220, and service behavior requests 215.In general, the service controller 205 can receive requests 250 from aservice consumer 210 to perform certain operations on data to bedisplayed on a UI associated with the service consumer 210. The servicecontroller 205 identifies a data source 200, corresponding to therequest 250, to which one or more UI operations are to apply. Theservice controller 205 identifies and retrieves the particular data 255needed for fulfilling the consumer's UI operation and request. Theservice controller 205 can further interpret the request 250 to identifyone or more services 225 providing functionality needed to perform theoperation and complete the request 250 on the identified data 255. EachUI service 225 corresponds to and performs at least one operation ondata for use in display by a UI associated with the service consumer210. Examples of UI services 225 include sorting, filtering, grouping,aggregation, concatenation, analytical functions, math functions, dataexpansion, hiding, exporting data to external applications or fileformats, and format conversion.

The execution of some services 225 can change the order of table rowsand columns, compared to the order of the original data stored and/ormanaged by its data source 220. Some services can also remove, or filterportions of data (such as a row or column in a table) as well as createnew “virtual” data such as headings and grouping rows. The servicecontroller 205 can manage the “movement” of data as it proceeds from thedata source 220 through processing by one or more services 225. Forinstance, in table data, the service controller 205 can manageselections of one or multiple rows, columns, and cells and providesmethods to map such selections between the data consumer UI perspectiveand the data source's perspective. The service controller 205 can alsorely, in some instance, on the individual services 225 to perform someof this management. For instance, services 225 can be responsible forretaining the selection information when the service configurationchanges and to keep the mapping information consistent.

A single UI service 225 may be sufficient to perform the operationresponsive to the service consumer's request 250, although in someinstances, multiple UI services 225 will need to be called to completean operation responsive to the request 250. Additionally, where multipleservices are to be called, the service controller 205 can, in additionto identifying and selecting the appropriate services 225, orchestratethe manner and order in which each of the identified services 225performs its respective operation on the data. Indeed, in someinstances, it can be necessary to perform services 225 in a particularorder in order to produce a result responsive to the service consumer'srequest 250. As an example, the UI framework can provide functionalityfor providing table UI operations. FIGS. 3A-3C illustrate examples of atable 305 displayed on a UI 300. In this example, the table data is atwo-column list of names 315 and telephone numbers 320. The table datacan be retrieved from a data source (e.g., 220), including local and/orremote data sources, as well as data sources internal to or external toan application or other service consumer. The illustrated example of atable 305 is to be understood as a simple example provided solely forpurposes of non-limiting illustration. Indeed, the content,organization, size, and format of the table data can be essentiallylimitless in variety and scope.

Continuing with the example of FIG. 3A, in some instances anapplication's or program's table UI may allow the user to sort or grouprecords or rows in the table, for instance, alphabetically, indescending or ascending order, or according to some other convention byselecting, for example, a button 325, displayed with the table 305. Inthe example of FIG. 3B, a user has interacted with the UI 300 toindicate the user's desire to sort the table 305 of table dataalphabetically according to name. Rather than requiring the developer ofthe UI's 300 associated program to develop and integrate the table UIfunctionality into the program's own, dedicated UI layer, the sortoperation performed on the list (as shown in FIG. 3B) can be performedthrough a call, by the UI's associated program (the service consumer, inthis example), to a shared, technology-independent UI framework, such asthe UI framework illustrated and described in connection with FIG. 2.

In the alternative example of FIG. 3C, a grouping operation has beenrequested by a user, through the UI 300, on the list table data 305 togroup the telephone numbers according to last name. In this particularexample, the grouping command has also been performed through a call toa shared UI framework. Further, in this example, the UI framework canimplement performance of the grouping operation request as a two-stepservice call. First, a sort operation through an identified sort servicecan be performed on the data 305 to arrange the names data inalphabetical order, and thereby ordering the list data so that commonnames are vertically adjacent in the column. For instance, “Jones”“555-3434” is adjacent to “Jones” “555-2121.” This prepares the data fora simplified grouping service, performed in a second step, to completethe consumer's requested grouping operation. In this example, a servicecontroller (e.g. 205) can be used to determine that this particulargrouping operation is performed using a combination of a sort serviceand a group service, in that order, hosted by the UI framework. Theservice controller can further manage the order the services are calledand pass data, ensuring that the sort service performs its associatedoperation first and passes the sorted table data to the grouping servicefor further processing. The service controller can, itself, act as theintermediary between services, ensuring that data is properly processedand in the correct order.

Returning to the example illustrated in FIG. 2, the service controller205 can further manage the performance of service operations on UI dataso as to optimize performance of the requested operations. For instance,a shared UI framework 200 can provide UI functionality for severalservice consumers 210, for instance, in connection with an enterprisesoftware service or environment. Sharing a UI framework 200 amongmultiple consumers 210 can impose heavy processing loads on the UIframework 200, as the UI framework fields and responds to multipleoperation requests from service consumers 210. In some instances,certain operations capable of being provided by one of the UI servicesin furtherance of a UI operation request 250 can also be performed bycertain data sources 220. As one example, a data source 220 can be adatabase table managed by a particular database management system(DBMS). For instance, the database management system can be a SQL DBMSand include functionality for performing certain SQL functions on therequested data. Some of these functions can perform operations that areredundantly provided by UI services 225 in the UI framework 200, such assorting, filtering, and grouping operations, as well as others.

As one example, a service consumer 210 can request that the UI framework200 perform a grouping and data conversion operation on data from a datasource 220. In this example, the service controller 205 identifies thedata source 220 as well as the capability of the data source to performelements of the requested grouping operation. The UI framework mayfurther determine that the capabilities of the data source 220 aresuitable substitutes for certain services 225 that could be used torespond to the request 250. To conserve processing resources at the UIframework 200, the service controller can delegate the performance ofcertain operations, capable of being performed by the UI service 225, toa data source 220 capable of performing the same operations on the data255. Additionally, the UI framework 200 can delegate UI operations inorder to increase the overall efficiency of the response to a request250. As an example, many UI operations can be implemented moreefficiently if their execution is located “close” to the respective datasource 220, such as by the data source 220 itself. Accordingly, the UIframework 200 may determine that it is preferable, from an efficiencystandpoint, to delegate certain operations or services to the datasource 220, where the data source 200 is available to perform theseoperations.

Delegating operations to the data source 220 can be optional. Forinstance, a service controller 205 may first seek permission from thedata source 220 or determine a load on the UI framework beforedelegating UI operations to the data source 220. In some instances, adata source 220 may perform UI operations requested of it by the servicecontroller 205, prior to transmitting the data 255 to the UI framework200 for further processing. Additionally, in certain instances, the UIframework can delegate all of the UI operations needed to respond to arequest 250 to a data source. In the example above, involving a requestto group and convert table data, the service controller 205 communicateswith the data source 220 and requests that the data source provide therequested data 255, operated upon by the data source 220 and groupedaccording to the parameters set forth in the request 250. The servicecontroller 205 receives the processed data 255 and need only then managethe execution of those remaining services 225 needed to complete thedata conversion portion of the request 225. In some examples, operationsperformed by a data source 220 on data 255 delivered to the UI framework200 for further processing may need to be “finished,” or speciallyprocessed, by one or more services 225 capable of working with data thathas been operated upon by a particular data source 220.

In addition to optimizing performance of the UI framework services 225by delegating certain operations to a capable data source 220 whenavailable, the service controller 205 can also be responsible forcommunicating with service behavior controllers 215. A service behaviorcontroller 215 can specify and communicate the needs and conventions ofa particular UI, on an operation-by-operation, or serviceconsumer-by-service consumer basis. The service controller 205, canrequest 260 service behavior data from a service behavior controller asparticular service events (e.g., a particular operation) are identifiedor performed. For instance, a particular UI of the service consumer 210may only display a portion of a set of data on the UI at any given time.For example, the service consumer's UI may utilize a scrolling tool,displaying less than the entire data set, yet allowing the user to viewthe remaining data by interacting with the UI. Further, only a subset ofdata to be processed and returned 265 for display on the UI may bedisplayed at one time. However, in some instances, performance of a UIoperation on data presented to a user can result in a change to theorder or arrangement of the data as it was originally presented to auser. For instance, a sort or filter operation can re-order data. Aservice behavior, specified by a service behavior controller 215, canestablish what portion of the data is displayed following the operation.For instance, in the example of a sort, a service behavior can dictatethat following the sort, a user-selected row or top row of the tablelast displayed to the user, is to be positioned at the top of the set ofreturned data 265, even if the particular row is not the first, or “top”row of the data set after it has been sorted (e.g., alphabetically). Asanother example, in the case of a filter operation, certain rows may behidden by virtue of the filter. A service behavior can dictate whethercertain previously selected rows remain selected, whether only theremaining visible selected rows remain selected, or no row remainsselected after filtering.

As a further example, illustrated in FIGS. 4A and 4B, an example UI 400is illustrated of an email inbox table 405. In this particular UI 400,for this particular email program (or service consumer), only ten emailsare displayed on the UI 400 at any given time. In FIG. 4A, the emailinbox table 405 lists the emails in the order in which they werereceived by an associated email server. In this example, the emailprogram interfaces with a shared UI framework as the consumer of tableoperation UI services provided by the framework. The email server, inthis example, is the data source interfacing with the UI framework. Auser can request to have the email program UI display the emails groupedby sender. The email program requests the UI framework to perform thisgrouping operation, FIG. 4B representing an example display of the UIfollowing receipt of the email data processed by the UI framework inaccordance with the email program's request. As shown in FIG. 4B, tenrows of email data are again presented, with a row dedicated to a header410 for each of the groupings of emails (by sender name). The UIframework, in performing the grouping operation, can interface with aservice behavior controller associated with the email program todetermine what portion of the grouped data is to be returned to theemail program and in what format (e.g., a maximum of 10 rows with rowsdedicated to group headers). The UI framework can consult a receivedservice behavior to make this determination.

The examples of FIGS. 4A and 4B are for purposes of illustration only,and one would appreciate that the types, size, and breadth of UIrequirements can vary widely. Rather than providing a one-size-fits allresult, communication with a particular UI's service behavior controller215 allows the UI framework to tailor the returned data 265 to a UI'sparticular specifications. Additionally, cooperation with a servicebehavior controller 215 can further enhance the optimization performanceof the service controller 205 by allowing the service controller 205 toidentify a minimum subset of data that would need to be retrieved fromthe data source 220, processed by the data source and/or services 225,or delivered to the consumer 210 and still be responsive to the request250 and permit correct display of the data 265 on the consumer's UI. Byidentifying what data is to be displayed, framework resources can bemore efficiently managed, freeing up the framework 200 to handle other,concurrent UI operation requests from the same or other serviceconsumers 210.

In some implementations, the UI framework 200 and hosted services 225may adopt principals and/or rules of operation that assist in achievingand maintaining efficient and optimized performance. For instance,services can be directed to read and process only as much data as neededto answer the request. Services, in some instance, need not, and can bedirected not to, perform unnecessary calculations. For instance, one ormore services 225 may include or use a cache (not shown) to storeintermediate or past results in order to fulfill performancerequirements and optimize processing of later requests involvingoverlapping data sets. Utilizing such principals can extend theprocessing capabilities of the UI framework, allowing it to be used bymultiple consumers on large and complex data sets.

Requests from service consumers 210 need not always require the UIframework to coordinate performance of UI operations on data 255retrieved from a data source 220. Indeed, in some instances, a requestfrom a service consumer can result in the UI framework interfacing witha data source 220 to request a modification to data managed and/orstored by the data source 220. Modifications to data can includeupdating, changing, deleting, or adding data to a data set provided bythe data source 220. For instance, a data consumer application mayreceive a user request through its UI requesting that certain data,displayed to the user through the UI, be changed in accordance with theuser's instructions or interactions. The UI framework 200, acting as anintermediary between the UI and the data source 220, can negotiate theperformance of the user's request with the data source 220. In suchinstances, change information 270 can be transmitted to the data source220 through, for example, the service controller 205.

In some instances, a service consumer request 250 can result both in theperformance of UI operations on data 255 pulled from the data source aswell as modifications to data stored at the data source 220. Multipledata sources 220 can be involved in the transaction, with data from onedata source being pulled for UI operations and data from another datasource being modified in response to the consumer's request 250. Indeed,any service consumer request can involve data from multiple data sources220, for instance as data 255 from multiple data sources is pulled, bythe UI framework, to assemble a data set upon which UI frameworkservices will be performed to produce a processed set of data 265returned to the consumer 210 for presentation on a UI. The servicecontroller 205 can handle and coordinate each of these transactionsbetween the various data sources 220 in response to a service consumer'srequest 250.

During or after processing of data 255 by one or more services 225, thedata source 220 can additionally signal data changes to the servicecontroller 205 indicating that insertions, deletions, and modificationsof certain record values have been made, for example, by the underlyingdata source manager, the data consumer's underlying application, oranother data consumer. Changes signaled by the data source 220 caninvalidate any intermediate results or caches of the services. Likewise,the UI framework 200 can ask the data source 220 to insert, delete, ormodify rows in connection with performance of its services 225.

In addition to managing and optimizing performance of the UI frameworkservices 225, the service controller 205 can also cooperate andcommunicate with a field service controller 245 of the UI framework aswell as a service configuration controller 235 of the UI framework inconnection with providing UI services to consumers. Both controllers235, 245 can be called on to perform necessary tasks used in respondingto consumer requests for UI operation services managed by the servicecontroller 205. Indeed, in some implementations, the functionality oftwo or more of the service controller 205, field service controller 245,and service configuration controller 235 can be combined into a singleframework controller.

A field service controller 245 can be used in connection with one ormore services 225 called in connection with the performance of variousUI operations on data 255 obtained from a data source 220. A fieldservice controller 245 can provide data conversion functionality, forinstance, to convert the data type of data 255. For instance, dataretrieved from the data source 220 may have a data type definition thatis different or incompatible with either or both of the consumer's UI orthe UI services 225 of the framework. Generally, the field servicecontroller 245 performs data translation operations to translate thedata type or format between its “external” type (i.e., how the data ispresented on the UI) and its “internal” type (i.e., how the data ismaintained at the data source 220), according to one or more rulesdictating how the translation is performed. In some instances, datatranslation may be required by a particular UI operation or service 225in order to properly respond to a request 250. For example, a servicemay not be able to properly sort or filter a given UI column, where thedisplayed, external values are time stamps in local time, while theinternal values represent the times in normalized universal time (UTC).Accordingly, in some instances, there can be strong cooperation andcoupling between the field service controller 245 and one or moreservices 225 provided through the UI framework 200.

Additionally, data translation can assist in translating data accordingto regional preferences. For instance, data can be translated based onthe regional preferences of the UI and data source 220, including thelanguage, alphabet, currency, units of measurement, date format, etc.For instance, by way of a simplified, non-limiting example, internaldata at the data source may store monetary values in Euros while the UIof the service consumer displays the monetary values in US dollars. Thefield service controller 245 can perform the data translation, eitherwhen pulling data from, or writing data to the data source, by applyinga current exchange rate converting the values between Euros and USdollars.

A centralized field service controller 245 need only perform dataconversion once for a chain of services 225 and service operations. Insome instances, a field service controller 245 can be implementedaccording to the specialized requirements of specific applicationprogramming models, for example where data type definitions differamongst programming models. The requirements can be communicated, insome instances, by the application layer of a service consumer 210.Indeed, while the field service controller 245 is internal to theexample UI framework 200 implementation illustrated in FIG. 2, in otherexamples the data conversion functionality of the field servicecontroller 245 can be provided alternatively, partially, or redundantlyby one or more external components, including a service consumer 210,data source 220, service behavior controller 215, or other component orentity. For instance, data conversion functionality can be implementedusing an application layer of a service consumer applicationcommunicating and operating in cooperation with an internal fieldservice controller 245 through an API.

Each UI service 225 has a corresponding service configuration model 230.A service's service configuration model 230 defines the exact functionof a service, including the specific parameters and data rangeinformation needed by the service 225 to successfully perform itsoperation. As an example, the service configuration model 230 of aservice for performing a sort table UI operation can, for example,include configuration parameters needed to perform the sort including anidentification of the column(s) to be sorted, as well as parametersindicating how the data is to be sorted (e.g., descending/ascending,alphabetically, etc.).

The UI framework 200 can further include a service configurationcontroller 235 that provides an interface to external serviceconfigurators 240, to allow a service configurator 240 to modify orcustomize, permanently or temporarily, a particular service 225. Thiscan be accomplished by providing service configurators 240 uniform andcontrolled access to a services' service configuration models 230through the service configuration controller 235. A service configurator240 can also create or define initial or default configuration models orconfiguration model parameters. For instance, a service configurator 240can define a new configuration model for a new service needed inconnection with the UI of a particular service consumer 220. In someexamples, service configurators 240 can specify conditionalconfiguration model modifications. For instance, a service configurator240 can specify that a proposed configuration model modification orcustomization should be limited to a particular service consumer, datatype, data source, etc. Changes to a particular service configurationmodel 230 can also be limited to apply only during a particular request250, and modifications to configuration models 230 can take place atruntime, in response to or in connection with a particular request 250for UI services. Indeed, the service consumer 210, itself, can act asthe service configurator 240, and specify a change to a serviceconfiguration model in its request for a UI service. Additionally, aservice configuration controller 235 can also permit external serviceconfigurators 240 to simply read current configuration models 230 of UIservices 225 offered through a UI framework 200. Information concerningservice configuration models 235 can be used, for example, by serviceconsumers 210 in tailoring their requests 250 in accordance with aparticular service configuration model 235.

While the example UI framework illustrated in FIG. 2 is described ascontaining or being associated with a plurality of elements orcontrollers, not all elements illustrated within UI framework 200 ofFIG. 2 must be utilized in each alternative implementation of thepresent disclosure. Additionally, one or more of the elements describedherein may be located external to UI framework 200, while in otherinstances, certain elements may be included within or as a portion ofone or more of the other described elements, as well as other elementsnot described in the illustrated implementation. Further, certainelements illustrated in FIG. 2 may be combined with other components, aswell as used for alternative or additional purposes in addition to thosepurposes described herein.

Turning to FIG. 5, a flowchart 500 illustrates an example method forproviding UI services to a consumer using a shared UI framework, such asthe example implementations illustrated and described in connection withFIGS. 1-4B. A request to perform at least one UI operation on a firstset of data is received 505, at an application-independent, reusable UIframework. The UI operation can affect the presentation of the first setof data on a user-interface associated with the first application. Insome instances, the UI operation can be directed to an operation ontable data, such as a sorting, grouping, or filtering operation. Therequest can be received 505 from a service consumer, such as anapplication utilizing the UI framework as or in connection with theapplication's UI layer. At least one service, hosted by the UIframework, is identified 510 in response to the received request 505.The identified service can be adapted to perform the at least one UIoperation on the set of data. The identified service can then be used toperform 515 the UI operation on the data set to produce a processed dataset. The processed data set can then be sent 520 to the data consumerfor presentation on a user-interface associated with the data consumer.

A reusable, shared UI framework can receive multiple requests for UIservices from multiple service consumers utilizing UIs of differenttechnologies. Requests fielded by the UI framework from serviceconsumers can involve the same sets of data provided by the same datasources. Where a service has already performed a particular operation ona set of data, the service can cache the result and use the cachedresult the next time an operation is requested on the set of data, forinstance, by a different service consumer. Additionally, requestsreceived from the same service consumer can require data from differentdata sources.

In some instances, a service provided by a shared UI framework canperform operations on an identified data set on a piece-wise basis. Forinstance, a large set of data may be identified in a request. The UIframework can divide the set into segments and perform UI operations oneach segment to incrementally build the resulting set of processed datafor the service consumer. As an example, only a portion of a large setof data, upon which UI operations are to be performed, may be presentedon a service consumer's UI at a given time. Accordingly, the UIframework may subdivide a large block of data into smaller segmentscorresponding to the portion of that data block that can be displayed ata given time on the UI. In another example, the UI framework canidentify that framework services have already performed the requestedoperation on portions of the data block, and cached the results,allowing the UI framework, in this transaction, to restrict performanceof the operation to that portion of the block not yet operated upon.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart 600 illustrating an example method for consumingservices provided by a shared UI framework. A user request can bereceived 605, through a user interface presented on a computing device,to perform at least one operation on particular table data. Theoperation can be a UI operation relating to presentation of at least aportion of the particular table data on the user-interface. A request toperform the at least one operation can be sent 610 to anapplication-independent, shared UI framework. The request can includeidentification of the particular table data (e.g., file, table, column,row, and cell names, an identification of the data source providing thedata, etc.) and the at least one operation. The particular data can beprovided by, and stored in memory of, a data source independent of theshared UI framework. A response can be received 615, from the UIframework, including processed table data. The received response 615 canbe responsive to the sent request 605. Processed table data can includeat least a subset of the identified particular table data modified inaccordance with performance of the at least one operation on the subsetby one or more services hosted by the shared UI framework. The UIframework can include implementations similar to those described above.Additionally, the at least one operation can be performed using stepssimilar to those illustrated and described in connection with FIG. 5above. Upon receipt of the processed data from the shared UI framework,at least a portion of the processed table data can be displayed 620 onthe user interface.

In some instances, the request sent 610 can include other informationincluding information about the data subset requested (e.g., page, startrow in a table, end row in table, cell range, etc.), selections (e.g.,multi- and single selections; rows, columns, or cell selections intables, etc.), service configuration model change requests (such as newsort rules, for example), data modification requests (e.g., changes,additions, insertions, and deletions of data), and error information.Likewise, processed data received 615 from the UI framework can includesupplemental data communicating aspects of the processed data returnedto the requesting consumer (such as a page, start row in a table, endrow in table, cell range, index key, etc. corresponding to the data),error information, or confirmation receipts detailing the operationsperformed, service configuration model changes and service behaviorchanges made, data modification made at the data source, etc.

Requests sent to a shared UI framework by a service consumer can also(or alternatively) include requests that cause the UI framework toperform other tasks beside UI service operations. For instance, arequest sent to the UI framework can cause the UI interface to interfacewith a data source to modify, add, or delete data managed by the datasource. The request can include or be directed to a request to modify aUI framework service's service configuration model. In some instancesthe request includes a service behavior request. In still otherexamples, a request can include requests for information from the UIframework, such as information about a service's service configurationmodel.

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration 700 of an example implementation of ashared UI framework used in connection with an example softwareapplication. In this example, the software application includes a userinterface (UI) layer 705, an application programming framework 710, andan application layer 715. The UI interface 200, in this example, issimilar to that shown and described in connection with FIG. 2. In thisexample an application layer 715 interfaces with a correspondingapplication programming framework 710 adapted to interface with UIbehavior control 720 for the application and a data source 725 used inthe application. The data source 725, in this example, is a dedicateddata source 725 belonging to the application. Nonetheless the UIframework 200, through the service controller 205, interfaces with thedata source 725 to access data for use in providing UI operationsresponsive to service requests 250 from the application.

Continuing with the example of FIG. 7, the UI behavior control 720 caninterface with a general UI behavior control 730 belonging to the UIlayer 705. The general UI behavior controller 730 can serve as theservice behavior controller in transactions between the application andthe UI framework 200. The UI layer 705 of the application can alsoinclude a UI controller 735 and configuration UI controller 740. In thisparticular example, the UI framework 200 provides table UI operationsfor the application and the UI controller 735 is a table UI controller.Requests 250 for services and response to these requests are transmittedbetween the service controller 205 and the application through the UIcontroller 735. Processed table data 265 produced in response to therequests 250 can also be returned from the service controller 205 to theUI controller 735. The configuration UI controller 740, in this example,can serve as a service configurator in transactions between the UIframework 205 and the application. The configuration UI controller 740can interface with the service configuration controller 235 of the UIframework 200.

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustration 800 of another example implementationof a UI framework, this time in connection with a print converterapplication 805. Using a shared UI framework, such as the UI framework200 described in connection with FIG. 2, UI operations can beimplemented as central services which are independent of a specificsoftware architecture (including user interface architecture andapplication programming framework), while still achieving optimalperformance in the context of distributed software systems, and evenmass data scenarios. In such implementations, the UI framework 200 canleverage these UI operations in the back end, for example, to allowbackground printing and printing preparation of large amounts of data.In this case, a shared UI framework can not only multi-task UI operationrequests of multiple applications, but can also simultaneously provideback-end print processing support for other service consumers.

A background spooling system 810 can be used in connection with theprint converter 805. The background spooling system 810 can includestored application data 815 (e.g., application data of an applicationsimilar to that shown and described in FIG. 7) that can be shared withor provided to a data source 820 interfacing with a service controller205 of the shared UI framework 200. The print converter 805, inpreparing a print job involving data available from the data source 820can request the UI framework 200 to assemble and perform UI operationson the data to make it suitable for printing. For instance, in responseto the print converter's request 250, the UI framework 200 can obtaindata, from the data source 820 corresponding to the request 250, convertit to a printable format (for instance, using the field service control245), assemble and organize the data through UI services 225, and streamthe result 265 to the print converter 805, which readies the processeddata 265 in a print queue. In some instances, the data source 820 canassist in assembly of the data, by reconstructing the data from originalapplication data 815. Additionally, the spooling system can act as aservice configurator 825, referencing stored service configurations 830to request changes to one or more service configuration models 230 inaccordance with the needs of a particular print job.

Although this disclosure has been described in terms of certainimplementations and generally associated methods, alterations andpermutations of these implementations and methods will be apparent tothose skilled in the art. For example, the actions described herein canbe performed in a different order than as described and still achievethe desirable results. As one example, the processes depicted in theaccompanying figures do not necessarily require the particular ordershown, or sequential order, to achieve the desired results. In certainimplementations, multitasking and parallel processing may beadvantageous. Other variations are within the scope of the followingclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:receiving a request, at an application-independent, reusable userinterface (UI) framework, from a first application, to perform at leastone first operation on a first set of data relating to presentation ofthe first set of data on a UI associated with the first application;receiving, from a data provider, independent of the UI framework, asubset of the first set of data corresponding to the received request;identifying, in response to the received request, at least one firstservice, hosted by the UI framework, adapted to perform the at least onefirst operation on the first set of data; performing the at least onefirst operation on the subset of the first set of data using theidentified at least one first service to produce a first processed setof data, wherein the at least one first operation is a conversion, usinga centralized service controller of the UI framework to execute theidentified at least one first service, of the subset of the first set ofdata including converting at least some values of data in the subset ofthe first set of data according to regional preferences of the firstapplication, and wherein the centralized service controller performs theat least one first operation once on the first set of data to make thefirst processed set of data available for use by other operationsperformed by at least one other particular service hosted by the UIframework; and sending the first processed set of data to the firstapplication, the first processed set of data adapted for presentation onthe UI associated with the first application.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first set of dataincludes table data and the at least one first operation includes atable operation.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, whereinthe table operation is at least one of a sorting, filtering, or groupingoperation.
 4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein thesubset of the first set of data includes all of the first set of data.5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the subset of thefirst set of data includes less than all of the first set of data. 6.The computer-implemented method of claim 5 further comprising:identifying a minimum subset of the first set of data that, whenprocessed by the at least one first operation, produces a processed setof data responsive to the received request; and sending, to the dataprovider, a request for the minimum subset of the first set of data,wherein the data received from the data provider comprises the minimumsubset of the first set of data.
 7. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1 further comprising: receiving a second request, at the UIframework, from a second application, to perform at least one secondoperation on a second set of data relating to presentation of the secondset of data on a UI associated with the second application; receiving,from a second data provider independent of the UI framework, a subset ofthe second set of data corresponding to the second request; identifying,in response to the second request, at least one second service, hostedby the UI framework, adapted to perform the at least one secondoperation on the second set of data; performing the at least one secondoperation on the subset of the second set of data using the at least onesecond service to produce a second processed set of data; and sendingthe second processed set of data to the second application, the secondprocessed set of data adapted for presentation on the UI associated withthe second application.
 8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the subset of the first set of data is received as a pluralityof data segments and the at least one first operation is performedindividually on each segment in the plurality of segments.
 9. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: identifyingthat the data provider is capable of performing at least a secondoperation; sending a request to the data provider to perform at leastthe second operation; wherein: the request received at UI framework isfor performance of at least two operations, including the firstoperation and the second operation; the data provider has performed theat least the second operation on the first set of data prior toreceiving the first set of data from the data provider; and theidentified at least one first service is used to perform at least thefirst operation on the subset of the received first set of data.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each service hosted bythe UI framework has an associated service configuration model definingthe function of the service.
 11. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 10, further comprising: receiving a request to modify a firstservice configuration model associated with the first service; modifyingthe first service configuration model based at least in part on thereceived request to modify the first service configuration model; andwherein performance of the first operation is based at least in part onthe modified first service configuration model.
 12. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising sending adata modification request to the data provider to modify, delete, or adddata managed by the data provider.
 13. The computer-implemented methodof claim 12, wherein the data modification request is sent in responseto the request from the first application.
 14. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein converting the subset of the first set ofdata includes converting the subset of the first set of data from afirst data type to a second data type.
 15. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 14, wherein the second data type is adapted for use bythe first application.
 16. The computer-implemented method of claim 14,wherein the second data type is adapted for use by the at least oneservice.
 17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein therequest is for performance of a plurality of operations, including thefirst operation, and a plurality of services hosted by the UI frameworkare identified in response to the request, each service in the pluralityof services adapted to perform at least one of the plurality ofoperations, wherein the first processed set of data is produced throughperformance of the plurality of operations on the subset of the firstset of data.
 18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: identifying a particular order for the performance of theplurality of operations; and initiating performance of each of theplurality of operations by a corresponding one of the plurality ofservices according to the identified particular order.
 19. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the UI frameworkprovides print-processing support.
 20. A computer-implemented methodcomprising: receiving a user request through a user interface (UI)presented on a computing device, to perform at least one operation onparticular table data, the at least one operation relating topresentation of at least a portion of the particular table data on theUI; sending a request to perform the at least one operation to theshared UI framework, and wherein the sent request includes anidentification of the particular table data and the at least oneoperation, wherein the particular table data is stored in a memory of adata source independent of the shared UI framework, wherein the at leastone operation is a conversion, using a centralized service controller ofthe shared UI framework to execute an identified at least one servicehosted by the shared UI framework and adapted to perform the at leastone operation on the particular table data, of a subset of theparticular table data including converting at least some values of datain the subset of the particular table data according to regionalpreferences of an application displaying the UI, and wherein thecentralized service controller performs the at least one operation onceon the subset of the particular table data to generate processed tabledata available for use by other operations performed by at least oneother particular service hosted by the shared UI framework; receiving aresponse from the shared UI framework including the processed tabledata; and displaying at least a portion of the processed table data onthe UI.
 21. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein therequest to perform the at least one operation includes a servicebehavior identifying at least one feature of presentations of processedtable data on the UI, wherein the received processed table data isproduced by the shared UI framework based at least partially on the atleast one feature.
 22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21,wherein the at least one feature identified in the service behavior canbe used by the UI framework to identify a particular portion of theprocessed table data to be displayed on the UI.
 23. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein the request to performthe at least one operation is sent to the shared UI framework over anetwork, wherein the shared UI framework is hosted by at least oneremote computing device.
 24. A computer-program product for providing anapplication-independent, reusable, and shared user interface (UI)framework, the computer-program product comprising computer-readableinstructions embodied on tangible, non-transitory media and operablewhen executed to: receive a request from a first application, to performat least one first operation on a first set of data relating topresentation of the first set of data on a user-interface associatedwith the first application; receive, from a data provider, independentof the UI framework, a subset of the first set of data corresponding tothe received request; identify, in response to the request, at least oneservice, hosted by the UI framework, adapted to perform the at least onefirst operation on the first set of data; perform the at least one firstoperation on the subset of the first set of data using the at least oneidentified service to produce a first processed set of data, wherein theat least one first operation is a conversion, using a centralizedservice controller of the UI framework to execute the identified atleast one service, of the subset of the first set of data includingconverting at least some values of data in the subset of the first setof data according to regional preferences of the first application, andwherein the centralized service controller performs the at least onefirst operation once on the first set of data to make the firstprocessed set of data available for use by other operations performed byat least one other particular service hosted by the UI framework; andsend the first processed set of data to the first application, the firstprocessed set of data adapted for presentation on the UI associated withthe first application.
 25. A computer-program product comprisingcomputer-readable instructions embodied on tangible, non-transitorymedia and operable when executed to: receive a user request through auser interface (UI) presented on a computing device, to perform at leastone operation on particular table data, the at least one operationrelating to presentation of at least a portion of the particular tabledata on the UI; send a request to perform the at least one operation tothe shared UI framework, and wherein the request includes anidentification of the particular table data and the at least oneoperation, wherein the at least one operation is a conversion, using acentralized service controller of the shared UI framework to execute anidentified at least one service hosted by the shared UI framework andadapted to perform the at least one operation on the particular tabledata, of a subset of the particular table data including converting atleast some values of data in the subset of the particular table dataaccording to regional preferences of an application displaying the UI,and wherein the centralized service controller performs the at least oneoperation once on the subset of the particular table data to generateprocessed table data available for use by other operations performed byat least one other particular service hosted by the shared UI framework;receive a response from the shared UI framework including processedtable data, wherein the processed table data includes at least a subsetof the particular table data; and display at least a portion of theprocessed table data on the UI.